Dharmendra Drunk-Dialed: Rajesh Khanna’s character became immortal in the film Anand (1971). This film was made by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The pairing of Rajesh and Amitabh Bachchan was also liked a lot in the film. Rajesh Khanna was a superstar by that time and Amitabh had just started his career.
Regarding this film, Dharmendra had told that earlier there was talk of casting him for this film. But Hrishikesh Mukherjee had again cast Rajesh Khanna and this made Dharmendra angry.
Narrated the script to Dharmendra
When Dharmendra reached Kapil Sharma Show, he told how he was removed from the film Anand. Dharmendra told- Rishikesh da had told me the story of Anand in the flight. While coming from Bangalore, he told me that we are going to do this and later I came to know that he has cast Rajesh Khanna for this role in the film.
Due to this Dharmendra became very angry with Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Dharmendra had called him in an inebriated state. Dharmendra told- I did not want Rishikesh da to sleep the whole night. I told him that you were going to give me this role, you had told me the story, then why did you give this film to Rajesh Khanna? He kept telling me to sleep Dharam, we will talk in the morning. He would disconnect the phone and I would call him again and ask why did you give him this role?
Worked together in these films
After Dharmendra and Hrishikesh Mukherjee had a bad experience with Anand, both of them moved on from it. They again worked together in Chupke Chupke and Guddi.
Let us tell you that stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Sumita Sanyal, Ramesh Deo and Seema Deo were also in important roles in Anand. The film performed well at the box office and gradually got the tag of cult classic. Today this film is one of the top films of Bollywood.